Speech Recognition Method of and System for Determining the Status of an Answered Telephone During the Course of an Outbound Telephone Call

1. A method of determining the status of an answered telephone during the course of an outbound telephone call comprising: A. placing, with an automated calling system, a telephone call to a location having a telephone number at which a target person is listed; B. after said telephone call being answered, as determined by an initial spoken response, or other audio or telecommunication signals, initiating a prerecorded greeting which asks for the target person; C. receiving a spoken response from an answering person or other audio signal and determining if said spoken response or other audio signal is being provided by an answering machine; D. upon determining that the spoken response or other audio signal is not provide by an answering machine, performing a speaker-independent speech recognition analysis on said spoken response, wherein performing said speaker-independent speech recognition analysis includes initiating a speaker-independent speech recognition application with said target person, wherein the speaker-independent speech recognition application is an interactive speech application configured and arranged to provide a series of acoustic prompts to the answering person by telephonic interaction, to determine the meaning of said spoken response; and E. providing at least one of the following conditional responses based on the meaning of the subsequent spoken response as determined by the speaker-independent speech recognition analysis in accordance with a set of speaker-independent speech recognition enabled states of conversation including (1) the answering person indicates that he or she is the target person, (2) the answering person indicates that he or she is not the target person, (3) the answering person indicates that the target person is not present at the location, (4) the answering person indicates a hold request, (5) the answering person requests the identity of the caller, (6) the answering person indicates that the telephone number is not the correct number for the target person, and (7) the speaker-independent speech recognition analysis cannot determine the meaning of the spoken response from the answering person: a. if said speech recognition analysis determines that said spoken response is a request for the identity of the entity responsible for the calling system, initiating a prerecorded response indicating the identity of the calling party, repeating said prerecorded greeting which asks for the target person, and repeating step C through step E; and b. if said speech recognition analysis cannot determine a status of said spoken response, repeating said prerecorded greeting which asks for the target person, and repeating step C through step E; and F. responding appropriately to the results of the speech recognition analysis.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein, in step F, if said speech recognition analysis determines that said spoken response indicates that said answering person is not said target person, a next step comprises initiating a prerecorded query asking for said target person.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein, upon said target person answering said telephone call, said method further comprises initiating a speech recognition application with said target person.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein, in step F, if said speech recognition analysis determines that said spoken response indicates that said target person is not present at said location, a next step comprises initiating a prerecorded query asking to leave a message for said target person.

5. The method of claim 4 further comprising a step of providing a prerecorded message to said answering person.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein, in step F, if said speech recognition analysis determines that said spoken response is a hold request, a next step comprises entering a wait state to wait for said target person to provide a spoken response to said telephone call.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein, upon said target person providing a spoken response to said telephone call, said method further comprises initiating a speech recognition application with said target person.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein, in step F, if said speech recognition analysis determines that said spoken response is a request for the identity of the entity responsible for the calling system, the method further comprises initiating a prerecorded response indicating the identity of the calling party, repeating said prerecorded greeting which asks for the target person, and repeating step C through step E.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein, in step F, if said speech recognition analysis determines that said spoken response indicates that said telephone number is not the correct number for the target person, the method further comprises initiating a prerecorded apology message and terminating said telephone call.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein, in step D, if said speech recognition analysis cannot determine the meaning of said spoken response, said method further comprises repeating said prerecorded greeting which asks for the target person, and repeating step C through step F.

11. A system for determining the status of an answered telephone during the course of an outbound telephone call comprising: an automated telephone calling device for placing a telephone call to a location having a telephone number at which a target person is listed; and a speaker-independent speech recognition device which, upon said telephone call being answered, initiates a prerecorded greeting which asks for the target person, receives a spoken response from an answering person and performs a speech recognition analysis on said spoken response to determine the meaning of said spoken response; wherein, if said speaker-independent speech recognition device determines that said answering person is said target person, said speaker-independent speech recognition device initiates a speaker-independent speech recognition application with said target person, wherein the speaker-independent speech recognition application is an interactive speech application configured and arranged to provide a series of acoustic prompts to the answering person by telephonic interaction, and wherein the speaker-independent speech recognition system is configured to provide at least one of the following conditional responses based on the meaning of the spoken response as determined by the speaker-independent speech recognition analysis in accordance with a set of speaker-independent speech recognition enabled states of conversation including one or more of (1) the answering person indicates that he or she is the target person, (2) the answering person indicates that he or she is not the target person, (3) the answering person indicates that the target person is not present at the location, (4) the answering person indicates a hold request, (5) the answering person requests the identity of the caller, (6) the answering person indicates that the telephone number is not the correct number for the target person, and (7) the speaker-independent speech recognition analysis cannot determine the meaning of the spoken response from the answering person: a. if said speech recognition analysis determines that said spoken response is a request for the identity of the entity responsible for the calling system, initiating a prerecorded response indicating the identity of the calling party, repeating said prerecorded greeting which asks for the target person, and repeating step C through step E; and b. if said speech recognition analysis cannot determine a status of said spoken response, repeating said prerecorded greeting which asks for the target person, and repeating step C through step E.

12. The system of claim 11 wherein, if said speech recognition device determines that said spoken response indicates that said answering person is not said target person, said speech recognition system instructs said automated telephone calling device to initiate a prerecorded query asking for said target person.

13. The system of claim 11 wherein, if said speech recognition device determines that said spoken response indicates that said target person is not present at said location, said speech recognition system instructs said automated telephone calling device to initiate a prerecorded query asking to leave a message for said target person.

14. The system of claim 13 wherein said automated telephone calling device provides a prerecorded message to said answering person.

15. The system of claim 11 wherein, if said speech recognition device determines that said spoken response is a hold request, said speech recognition enters a wait state to wait for said target person to provide a spoken response to said telephone call.

16. The system of claim 15 wherein, when said speech recognition device determines that said target person has provided a spoken response to said telephone call, said speech recognition device initiates a speech recognition application with said target person.

17. The system of claim 11 wherein, if said speech recognition device determines that said spoken response is a request for the identity of the entity responsible for the automated calling device, the speech recognition system instructs said automated telephone calling device to initiate a prerecorded response indicating the identity of the entity and to repeat said prerecorded greeting which asks for the target person; wherein, upon receiving a spoken response from the answering person, said speech recognition device performs a speech recognition analysis on said spoken response to determine the status of said spoken response.

18. The system of claim 11 wherein, if said speech recognition device determines that said spoken response indicates that said telephone number is not the correct number for the target person, said speech recognition system instructs said automated telephone calling device to initiate a prerecorded apology message and to terminate said telephone call.

19. The system of claim 11 wherein, if said speech recognition device cannot determine a status of said spoken response, said speech recognition system instructs said automated telephone calling device to repeat said prerecorded greeting which asks for the target person; wherein, upon receiving a spoken response from the answering person, said speech recognition device performs a speech recognition analysis on said spoken response to determine the status of said spoken response.

20. A method for determining the status of an answered telephone during the course of an outbound telephone call comprising: A. placing, with an automated calling system, a telephone call to a location having a telephone number at which a target person is listed; B. after said telephone call being answered, initiating a prerecorded greeting which asks for the target person; C. receiving a spoken response from an answering person; D. performing a speaker-independent speech recognition analysis on said spoken response to determine the meaning of said spoken response; E. providing at least one of the following conditional responses based on said speaker-independent speech recognition analysis in accordance with a set of speaker-independent speech recognition enabled states of conversation including (1) the answering person indicates that he or she is the target person, (2) the answering person indicates that he or she is not the target person, (3) the answering person indicates that the target person is not present at the location, (4) the answering person indicates a hold request, (5) the answering person requests the identity of the caller, (6) the answering person indicates that the telephone number is not the correct number for the target person, and (7) the speaker-independent speech recognition analysis cannot determine the meaning of the spoken response from the answering person: a. if said speech recognition analysis determines that said answering person is said target person, initiating a speaker-independent speech recognition application with said target person, wherein the speech recognition application is an interactive speech application configured and arranged to provide a series of acoustic prompts to the answering person by telephonic interaction; b. if said speech recognition analysis determines that said spoken response indicates that said answering person is not said target person, initiating a prerecorded query asking for said target person, wherein, upon said target person answering said telephone call, said method further comprises initiating a speech recognition application with said target person; c. if said speech recognition analysis determines that said spoken response indicates that said target person is not present at said location, initiating a prerecorded query asking to leave a message for said target person; d. if said speech recognition analysis determines that said spoken response is a hold request, entering a wait state to wait for said target person to provide a spoken response to said telephone call, wherein, upon said target person providing a spoken response to said telephone call, said method further comprises initiating a speech recognition application with said target person; e. if said speech recognition analysis determines that said spoken response is a request for the identity of the entity responsible for the calling system, initiating a prerecorded response indicating the identity of the calling party, repeating said prerecorded greeting which asks for the target person, and repeating step C through step E; f. if said speech recognition analysis determines that said spoken response indicates that said telephone number is not the correct number for the target person, initiating a prerecorded apology message and terminating said telephone call; and g. if said speech recognition analysis cannot determine a status of said spoken response, repeating said prerecorded greeting which asks for the target person, and repeating step C through step E; and F. responding appropriately to the results of the speech recognition analysis.